Chalk this up as one of the more interesting product announcements we’ve seen in some time. Sony, maker of the venerable PlayStation line of consoles, today announced the PlayStation 4, its fourth-generation console that will be put up against Microsoft’s next-generation offering, as well as Nintendo’s Wii U.

Sony detailed the console, describing it as an 8-core x86, 8GB of GDDR5 RAM machine. That makes for a fairly remarkable machine, and Sony’s title demos were on the impressive side. Graphics look great, and the PlayStation 4′s updated hardware should help to power Sony’s gaming plans for the next 7-to-8 years. Sony is also using cloud services to bolster the accessibility and performance of the PlayStation 4.

What makes this announcement odd is that, while various games were shown, Sony failed to show the console itself. The design of the PlayStation 4 remains a mystery, even though its DualShock 4 controller was unveiled. The physical design of the machine obviously doesn’t matter as much as what is inside of it, but it’s definitely an odd move by Sony to keep such a detail hidden.